Southampton stunned Manchester City to book a place in the semifinals of the English League Cup on Wednesday. (More Football News)
The bottom team in the Premier League side produced a major upset by beating defending champion Manchester City 2-0 at St. Mary바카라s and will now face Newcastle over two legs in a bid to reach the final.
Southampton stunned Manchester City to book a place in the semifinals of the English League Cup on Wednesday. (More Football News)
The bottom team in the Premier League produced a major upset by beating defending champion City 2-0 at St. Mary바카라s and will now face Newcastle over two legs in a bid to reach the final.
Nottingham Forest beat Wolves 4-3 on penalties after a 1-1 draw and will take on Manchester United in the other semifinal.
It was Southampton, however, that produced the shock of the round against City.
First-half goals from Sekou Mara and Moussa Djenepo allowed the hosts to aside worries about their relegation battle and provide its fans with a reason for celebrating.
Eight-time winner City was the overwhelming favorite to progress to the semifinals after dominating the competition in recent times, lifting the trophy on six occasions in the last nine years.
Manager Pep Guardiola has won it four times since taking charge of City in 2016.
However, Southampton moved a step closer to the final at Wembley with the most impressive win yet since manager Nathan Jones was appointed in November.
바카라I바카라m really proud of the players, of myself and the coaches. We바카라ve gone through a lot recently, people questioning a lot of things. That goes a little way to justifying why we바카라re here and what team we바카라re trying to create,바카라 Jones said.
In the night바카라s other match, Wily Boly바카라s first-half goal put Forest ahead in the game between two more teams who are battling against relegation from the Premier League. Raul Jimenez evened the score after the break.
Dean Henderson made the decisive save to deny Wolves바카라 Joseph Hodge in the shootout and send Forest through.
PEP PAYS THE PRICE
Perhaps Guardiola had one eye on Saturday바카라s league derby against Manchester United, but his much-changed team couldn바카라t handle Southampton바카라s flying start.
Erling Haaland, Kevin de Bruyne, Rodri, Bernardo Silva and Ederson were among the big names left out of his starting XI.
Not that there was any shortage of stellar talent in his lineup, including Jack Grealish, Phil Foden and Argentina바카라s World Cup winner Julian Alvarez, but Southampton was a worthy winner, with both goals coming inside 28 minutes.
It is far from ideal preparation ahead of City바카라s trip to Old Trafford in a game that could see United move to within a point of its Manchester rival.
바카라The better team won. We didn바카라t play good, we didn바카라t play well in the beginning. There are many games you can start not good and overcome and we didn바카라t do it,바카라 Guardiola said. 바카라Today was a bad night, the opponent was better so we have to congratulate them. To win games you have to deserve it and tonight we didn바카라t deserve it.바카라
UNITED AWAIT FOREST
Forest바카라s reward for victory against Wolves is a two-legged semifinal against in-form United.
The two teams met over Christmas, with United winning 3-0 at Old Trafford.
Despite victory and progression to the semis, Forest manager Steve Cooper was still critical of his team.
바카라The objective of the tie was to get through. I can바카라t say I loved our performance, I shouldn바카라t be too negative and won바카라t be. But we have to play a lot better than we did over large spells of the game,바카라 he said.